Okay...I am going back to work next week and have been wondering how you all do it...

So like I will be getting home from work at like 6.15, Daddy will be picking the boy wonder up from nursery at around 5.45 ish, so now he eats dinner at 5.30...and goes to bed at around 7. How will I make this work, how do you Moms who work do it? Nursery will give him a snack at around 4 ish...a crumpet, or some toast or something.

So tell me how you do the morning also please...

Any advice will help me lots please! I aint never been a working mother before! I hope I don't hate it.

Re: Okay...I am going back to work next week and have been wondering how you all do it...

It's tough, but you will make it work.

I am lucky because dh does everything in the morning, he gets her up and dressed and fed and drops her off so I can't help you there.

I pick her up around 4ish. We do dinner around 6:30, bath around 8ish on bath nights, she pretty much will not respond to a schedule so she goes to bed anywhere from 9-10:30, depending on her naps for the day.

Re: Okay...I am going back to work next week and have been wondering how you all do it...

Getting everything done the night before is a Godsend.

I shower at night unless I wind up with funky morning hair.

Schedule is wake them up by 6:30, everyone out of the house by 7am. If you opt to do the morning bottle when you first wake up - dress yourself first, morning bottle then dress him. When you pick him up, do it facing AWAY from you - just in case he spits up on you.

I'll try to think of more. Oh once when I had a meeting, I let them sleep in their clothes the night before.

Re: Okay...I am going back to work next week and have been wondering how you all do it...

It will definitely be a rough start, expect that and don't be too hard on yourself. But within a few weeks, you should ease your way into a routine that works for your family. For us, Alex usually wakes up at 7am. I get up with her, give her some milk (she still likes to be held in my arms like a little baby while she has her first milk of the day, even though it's from a sippy cup ), change her diaper and dress her, then I put her in her little rocking chair in front of her tv and let her watch her einstein video while I shower. She usually starts getting cranky within 10 minutes so DH gets up and plays with her and gives her breakfast until I get out, get dressed and am ready to go. Once I'm ready, I take Alex to school and head to work, while hubby gets ready for work. What works best is to have everything done the night before - lay out his clothes, have his lunch prepared, bottles/cups cleaned, everything, so you aren't rushing around in the morning.

The night is a little harder, especially if they have an early bedtime - you may find that once he's in a structured program, he'll start going to sleep later. Alex used to go to bed around 7pm, but once she moved up to the "toddler" class, where they have a structured day of activities, and daily nap from 12-2pm, we were able to gently ease her into a later bedtime, around 8pm, which gives us more time to play. DH gets home at around 5pm, picks her up, takes her home, and by the time I arrive, around 5:30pm, she's ready for dinner, so I feed her, and then we play for an hour or so, bathtime, and then bedtime.

Good luck!

Re: Okay...I am going back to work next week and have been wondering how you all do it...

Thanks guys...I am bumping this to hear how more of you do it!

TIA

Re: Okay...I am going back to work next week and have been wondering how you all do it...

I agree with what everyone else said. Get as much stuff together the night before as you possibly can. It's hard, but you will fall into a routine and just go with it. Good luck!

Re: Okay...I am going back to work next week and have been wondering how you all do it...

We get up around 6:30 - change diaper and have a bootle. Then a bath and gets dressed. 2 days a week DH takes her to his mothers - they leave at 7:15 and then I get ready and leave the house around 8. the other 2 days (I work from home 1 day) my mother comes and picks her up at 8 so I just put her in her exersaucer or something while I shower and get ready.

She eats breakfast and lunch and late afternoon bottler with the grandma's.

I pick her up everyday and we get home about 6ish. I have to feed her right away (she's starving) and then we get dressed for bed have a bottle and go to sleep around 6:45. It stinks we don't have much time at night and DH doesn't see her at all in the evening. But it does give DH and I alone time and a chance to get some stuff doen around the hosue. That is the hardest part keeping up with the chores. I want a cleaning lady but DH doesn't think we need it.

Message edited 12/29/2006 12:17:17 PM.